Aelin POV

When Rowan and I woke, we quickly dressed and headed to the foyer where the others were already waiting. I was dreading getting out of the room and facing Aedion after last night, but when we reached the foyer all my worries flew out of my head just by looking at my comrades grim faces.

"I guess it's time to leave," I tried to sound lighthearted, but I could feel my nerves in the pit of my stomach. I looked around at each of their faces and noticed something off.

"I think you should tell her," I heard Feyre whisper to Lysandra. I turned toward them and furrowed my brows. I looked around at the faces that contained nervous expressions. I knew this mission would be hard, but I'd never think they'd be this nervous.

Lysandra put up her hands and placed one on my shoulder, with a sweet smile on her face. This couldn't be good. She started, "Aelin, all agreed that it would be best if you didn't ride with us today." Ah, this must be what they were nervous about, and had good sense to be.

"What?" I burst. "You think I'm going to stay here while you all go risk your lives?"

"Oh no, no. That's not what I meant," Lysandra said, trying to calm me down.

"Yeah, this is worse," I heard Dorian chuckle to Aedion; I saw the grins on their face.

"What is going on?" I demanded, opening my hands at my side. Lysandra looked to the others, they only nodded and raised their eyebrows expectantly.

"We think that you should ride in a carriage and not on horseback," she said quickly. She bit down on her bottom lip and looked at me like I was a bomb about to go off.

My face dropped, I took a deep breath and blinked a few times. I looked at Rowan and said, "Did you know about this?"

"No, but it's in your best interest. It's just a carriage, you'll still be with us," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Listen Aelin," Mor said, making her way to me, "we made sure you wouldn't be bored, someone will be with you the whole time," she leaned close to my ear and continued, "mostly the one with fangs and silver hair." When she backed away, I could see her smirk before I looked at Rowan and saw his face go bright red. Mor winked and walked out the door, probably going mount her horse. I tried to calm myself, it was just a carriage, but my gods damned mood wings took control of my body. At Least I was aware of them, and I could use them to my advantage.

I took another deep breath and closed my eyes silently counting to ten. I opened my eyes to find everyone staring at me as if I were going to combust. I resisted the urge to smirk. When training with Rowan, he would expect a tantrum every time something went wrong, and I would prove him otherwise. I would do the same right now. I smiled sweetly at them and nodded. I almost burst out laughing at the confused expressions crossing their faces. I started to calmly stroll towards the door, reaching for the handle. Everyone was following close behind, glancing at each other as if I couldn't see from the reflection of the glass walls. I opened the door, just enough for me to slip outside and closed it shut as soon as I could. Before anyone could comprehend what I was doing, I sprinted as fast as my fae legs could towards the first horse that came in sight and mounted it.

I grabbed the reins and made my horse turn in its place to throw a triumphant grin and a quite vulgar gesture towards the others. They all tried to look stern but they had hints of smiles on their faces. I was surprised to see that Rowan was angry. I could see it, feel it coming off of him. He stalked towards me and tried to forcibly remove me from the horse.

"Rowan! Rowan I'm fine! Let go!" I struggled against his grasp. I clenched my knees against the horse and held onto the reins.

"Aelin the baby-" Rowan growled. Ah, here comes the protective territorial male behavior.

"The baby won't go anywhere. It's just a horse ride," I exasperated, annoyed at his territorial fae bullshit.

Still, he wouldn't let go. I could hear muffled laughter coming from the rest of the group. I gave no one in particular a what a I hoped to be a piercing glare. Rowan and I resorted to a staring contest.

'Get off right now, Aelin' Rowan seemed to be saying.

'No' I tried to convey my indignance. 'I'm an independent woman and I can do as I please.'

'Get in the carriage'

'No'

'Get-'

'No'

'Argh! Fine. ATLEAST let me ride with you. Just sit behind me.' he conveyed, trying to pry my hands off of the reins. I smirked at how easy it was to convince him.

'No. You get behind me.'

'I will not- oh fine!' He seemed to say with an outraged flailing of his arms. He mounted the horse behind my making a big deal out of putting his hands around my torso, as if that would protect me. We both knew I could take care of myself perfectly fine.

Everyone else seemed oblivious to our silent conversation and seemed to look at us with amusement. Silently, they mounted their horses, Rhysand keeping the carriage that was attached to a horse, just in case.

I could feel Rowan's green eyes cutting a sharp glare in my direction.

Once we started in the direction of the King of Hybern's palace, I realized why everyone wanted me to ride in the carriage; my lower back felt like it was about to collapse on itself and my head was spinning after only a few minutes.

After what felt like hours, I felt the familiar feeling I'd been having right before I'd throw my guts up somewhere. I quickly pulled the reins to stop the horse and dismounted before I tipped over in the grass and emptied the contents of my stomach.

When I felt better, I stood up and turned to see Rowan leaning on the horse with his arms crossed and an 'I told you so' look on his face.

"Get in the carriage, please" was all he said.

"No, really, I'm fine," I offered, making my voice sound more lighthearted than usual.

Rowan released a breath, walked over to the carriage and opened the door. He had one eyebrow raised and a finger pointed to the horrible contraption.

I rolled my eyes and stomped like a child to the carriage. I looked at Rowan pleadingly one last time and when I saw that he wouldn't relent, I stepped in. I had to admit, it was pretty luxurious; the insides were covered in silk and velvet and there was a faint perfume that I couldn't place.

"Rowan, don't bother getting in the carriage," I called sweetly.

"You have to have someone with you the entire time," I heard him say from the outside.

"You might be able to come later if I'm feeling generous," I said, pursing my lips and raising an eyebrow. "Also, I want you to look out for Dorian and Lysandra. They're still a bit new to the whole Fae thing." I blew him a kiss and he rolled his eyes, but he had a small smile on his lips.

"Fine, whatever, but I still rather be with you" he muttered. I could hear him and Rhysand talking in hushed tones but couldn't make out what they were saying. After a minute, I heard Rowan walk away and through the small opening, I saw him mount the horse we had been riding. For a moment, I remembered being taken to Endovier. I thought about the little hole I peered through on the way there. Suddenly, this lush carriage felt more like a cage than anything.

I found it hard to breathe until the door opened and Rhysand stepped inside, sitting himself across from me-blocking the window.

"Aelin, there's something I want to talk to you about," he said, peering at me cautiously.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked as sarcastically as possible. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms and legs.

"It's about the mating bond," he stated right to the point. He crossed his arms as well and his eyebrows were raised in question.

My smug expression fell and my eyes widened, I asked, "How do you know about that?" When I remembered Rowan's fae hearing, my eyes got even wider and I whispered, "You do know Rowan can hear right?"

He just rolled his eyes and said, "I sent him to the front of the group to guide the others. They're all talking, it'll be hard to hear what we're saying. He can't hear a thing." I could hear the impatience in his voice as he said, "and it doesn't matter how I know, but we don't have much time."

"What should I do? I can't just force it on him," I whispered, suddenly nervous. It had only been one day and it was killing me to keep it all bottled up. Every moment I had with him, I had the urge to tell him.

"I know how you feel," Rhysand tried soothing me. It didn't help at all considering the fact that he tried to get into my mind. I shot him a glare. His powers reminded me eerily of Maeve's. He chuckled, rolling his eyes, and said, "fine, I won't read your mind, I can't say the same for your face, it's an open book." When he saw the disappointment that I meant to display on my face, he loosed a breath and said calmly, "Just know, I can relate to what's happening to you, I had the same experience with Feyre."

"When did you find out she was your mate? Did you find out at the same time? What did you say? What did you do?" I was overflowing with questions to ask. I had never known that finding a mate would be so complicated. I thought you would just look at them and know. In a way I did, but I, at the very least, thought Rowan and I would find out at the same time. And in a more joyful way than him almost dying.

"Calm down," he said, all of his previous amusement gone. A wistful expression took over his face and he started the tale of how he met Feyre. "I met Feyre when she was a human, and immediately I was drawn to her. When we were underground, I struck a deal with her. One week a month, she would spend her time with me. I didn't have any other way to see her without it being suspicious. I didn't know she was my mate until she was reborn as a Fae. I was so surprised, she was with Tamlin at the time. She loved him. As much as it ripped me apart to see her with him, I knew I couldn't just spring something like this on her. I continued the bargain. At first, she hated it. She was so weak, Aelin. So weak, she was all skin and bones. I wanted nothing more than to kill Tamlin for treating her like that, for letting that happen to her. When she would come to the Night Court, I would beg her to eat. She finally realized what Tamlin was doing wasn't right after he trapped her in his house. She pulled on our bond, and that's when I knew something was terribly wrong, more than usual, but she still didn't know I was her mate, she thought it was just the bargain. I made it painfully obvious, but she never caught on. One day, we were ambushed and I was dying. She trapped the Suriel, an ancient Fae that knows knowledge beyond measure, looking for a way to heal me, and that's when she found out I was her mate. He told her; she was furious. She healed me, but she was so shocked, and surprisingly hurt. She was angry that I hadn't told her. She didn't accept it right away. She distanced herself from me for a while, and I was pulling my hair out trying to find a way to fix what we had. I knew that not all mates are together romantically; but what we had wasn't platonic. When I finally couldn't take it anymore, I went to her. She was living in one of my other houses in Velaris, it was closed off. Mor helped her, took her there, without me knowing. Aelin, do you know what the female does when she accepts the bond?" Rhysand asked me, vulnerability clear in his eyes. When he talked about Feyre, his eyes lit up, he could talk about her all day. He probably thought about her all day, it pained me to think that he had to keep the bond secret for months. I don't know if I would be able to do that.

I shook my head. I was speechless.

"She offers her mate food," Rhysand breathed. He chuckled and shook his head, his eyes lost somewhere else. "Feyre didn't know that, of course. How could she? She gave me something to eat, and I just stood there. I told her what I just told you, about the female accepting the bond. She thought it was ridiculous, but she still offered me the food, and that's when I knew that if we could survive everything we'd been through together, we could survive eternity with each other."

I was silent for a few moments, tears filling my eyes. I blinked them away rapidly and looked at Rhysand once again. "Rhys, looking back now, seeing that she's already accepted the bond-seeing how much she loves you, do you wish you would you have told her? That she was your mate?" I asked.

He looked at me for a minute and said, "wish? Oh yes, I wished I could tell her so badly. Would I actually have done it? No. This is something that comes naturally. You only know, when you are ready to accept it. Feyre was still in a shaky place, she only found out because the Suriel ran its mouth to her. It makes me wonder if everything would've gone differently if the Suriel hadn't told her. How long would it have taken for her to realize what she was missing was right in front of her? But maybe it wasn't the same for her as it was for me." He shook his head as if that would clear the thoughts that were clearly plagueing his mind. "You don't know how long I thought there was something wrong with me. I've been alive for a long time, Aelin, been with lots of women, seen lots of women. Every single time, I've thought, this could be her. This could be my mate. But I'd never mated with anyone, for centuries. Until Feyre came along. I did everything I could not to mess it up, not to mess up what I had with her, but the Suriel came along and did just that, but she still accepted me. Aelin, from my experience, wait until the time is right. Wait until Rowan realized he's your mate. He's already head over heels for you. It could take months, maybe years, or it could take a few days. But you still have him wrapped around your finger, so try to play your cards right."

I sighed and realized that he was right. I wouldn't want someone to just come out and tell me that I was meant to be with one person forever; I'd want to learn it on my own.

"Rhysand… have you ever met anyone that's had a situation like ours? Rowan has already had a mate, how can he have two?"

"I'll admit, I've never come across anything like this before, but the pair of you show that it's possible. Lyria's death changed him. You were what he needed and what he will continue need, even if he didn't realize that. Even if he still doesn't realize it. Eventually he will, but just not right now. I know you'll do the right thing. It took death for both of us to realize who our mates were, let's just hope it's not the same for Rowan," he said with a short laugh.

"Thank you, Rhysand. I would've went out of my mind if I didn't talk to someone about this," I thanked putting every ounce of sincerity I had into the worlds. "By the way… what's going on between Mor and Azriel?" I asked slyly.

"Oh," he laughed, "that is a long story, but," his eyes got wide and I saw his eyebrows dip in confusion. Then he was up in an instant, his usual laid-back demeanor was replaced with a horrified one.

I only had time to hear the screams before Rowan slammed the doors open, his face set in a grim expression.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed. This is probably our longest chapter yet!